Verizon Wireless

Pocketnow has published exclusive pictures of what they say is a Samsung QWERTY slider on its way to Verizon Wireless. As you’ll notice, the device is very similar to the Epic 4G on Sprint. It is not clear yet as to whether this device will have 4G capabilities like the Epic 4G, but we are hopeful.  More importantly, we’re wondering if Verizon is going to saddle this thing with Bing like it has its other Samsung (save the Droid Charge) and LG Android devices.  If so…pass!

The device has the model number SCH-i405, following Samsung Continuum’s of SCH-i400, reports AndroidSpin. The device has already earned Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifications, but has not made its way past the FCC. There isn’t any other information as to what’s actually inside the device. For those of you who can’t wait to get your slide on, this device should be hitting stores in a month or two.
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While we’re at it, check out the sharp decline of RIM’s once powerful BlackBerry platform.

It’s always a good idea to take whatever analysts are predicting with a healthy dose of skepticism. That said,  Needham’s Charlie Wolf cites IDC data that portrays Android as losing ground to iOS in America. Android, of course, is the country’s leading smartphone platform which in the first quarter grabbed a whopping 49.5 percent of the smartphone market while Apple’s iPhone had 29.5 percent. The momentum cannot continue forever so it’s little surprise then that Android controlled 52.4 percent of the market in the quarter-ago period. Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt calls this Android’s “first sequential loss ever in any region of the world”, quoting Wolf’s Monday note to clients:

In our opinion, this is just the beginning of Android’s share loss in the US. The migration of subscribers to the iPhone on the Verizon network should accelerate this fall when Apple coordinates the launch of iPhone 5 on the GSM and CDMA networks. The iPhone could also launch on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks.

It looks like ol’ Charlie’s trying to offload some AAPL shares. He argues that…
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ48ZKAU2jw&w=670&h=411]

Just as Verizon Wireless announced Thursday launch of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play handset in the US, the New Zealand branch of the big red carrier tweeted Monday that the entire shipment headed to that country had been stolen.

Regret to advise the Xperia Play launch will be delayed. Major security breach. The shipment of phones has been stolen.

Turned out that was just a clumsy marketing gimmick that had cleverly exploited the whole Sony-versus-hackers brouhaha in an effort to drum up publicity ahead of the Xperia Play launch in New Zealand. To make the whole thing appear realistic, the carrier even released security footage, allegedly from the Vodafone store, seen above. They were “investigating” the theft, per this tweet:

Our fraud team are investigating the stolen Xperia Play phones and have released footage of the break-in. Can you help?

Needless to say, it opened a can of whoop ass…

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Next Issue Media, a joint venture of five major magazine publishers, is launching a long-awaited digital newsstand on Android tomorrow, May 19, 2011. Seven digital magazines packaged as downloadable Android apps will be available from day one: Esquire and Popular Mechanics from Hearst, Fitness and Parents from Meredith, The New Yorker from Condé Nast and Fortune and Time from Time Inc. Labeled an “early preview” release, the store will launch on Samsung Galaxy tablets on the Verizon network before rolling out to other Android devices later.

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Bad news for data-hungry Android fans. According to DroidLife, carriers are pressuring Google to selectively block third-party apps which enable tethering on Android devices. Worse, they seem to be succeeding at it, too. This change in stance affects the many tethering programs on Android Market such as Wireless Tether. The site did a little digging to discover that even though browser-based Android Market lists tethering apps, they cannot be installed on the devices authorized on the Verizon network. Commenting on the above image, the site wrote:

What you are seeing, is my list of devices, all of which cannot accept this app.

Tethering apps allow consumers to use their cellphone’s 3G connection on a notebook. While cellular data consumed this way still counts against your monthly data allotment, such programs effectively avoid carrier-enforced tethering plan that cost between $30-$45 a month and upwards.

The news follows AT&T’s warning last week that unofficial tethering will automatically trigger the extra $25 fee. Meanwhile, This is my next reminded that selectively blocking software by carrier request is at stark contrast to Google’s proclaimed openness. The publication reminded that the last year’s auction for the C Block 700MHz spectrum that Verizon now uses for its LTE network came with the promise of open applications and handsets, saying Google pushed the bid past the $4.6 billion mark in an effort to ensure those licensing conditions would be in place.

Ah, the carriers – you gotta love those guys. The Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg once likened them “the Soviet ministries”, the definition which is still true today. No matter how you call them – the Soviet ministries, wireless operators, telcos or just carriers – they are at odds at all times with both handset makers and (especially) platform providers.

Google could be an extreme example because the company neither sells handsets nor the open-sourced Android operating system nor its many online services that are offered free of charge. Yup – you guessed right – Google’s in it for advertising and carriers are loving it provided they get a piece of the action, too.